You would think that as Americans, we have a right to not live in fear of our own law enforcement, especially over ridiculous things, especially in "Brew City," especially under the current circumstances.

In the recent months, the Milwaukee Police Department has been on a "Screw our Citizens" campaign since our relatively new police chief, Nannette Hegerty, has been rearranging the city's priorities. Recently, several local bars have been ticketed up to $40,000 for overcrowding and the police now do wanton raids all over town. One bar was even ticketed for allowing a few customers to wait in its lobby after hours during a snowstorm. The one with the most impact to students is the new trend of busting college parties. A couple weekends ago, one estimate is that the MPD pulled in a shade under $100,000 worth of fines from Marquette students. I am glad to know that the city is milking its own residents for all we are worth.

One of Milwaukee's police captains was talking about how college parties are "well beyond" just having a good time. I agree that parties at Marquette are getting dangerous. Like other schools, we have a tendency to cause heaps of problems, the most devastating being the increased wait time at Jimmy Johns for an officer's free sub due to the higher volume of people looking for late night food. If you slap these kids with a $167 ticket, viola, no more waiting. It's even easier if you don't need evidence that they were drinking. I wish Capt. Olivia would elaborate, because I cannot remember the last time that there have been any deaths, severe violence or other significant problems here at our place of education as a direct result of underage consumption.

I urge the City of Milwaukee to step back and evaluate why they are choosing to harass its own residents and businesses. Is it really fair to fine a bar $40,000 for having too many people? Is it really fair to fine one college student more than one year's tuition for hosting a party? Is it really fair to the citizens of Milwaukee that the traditional goal of police (to protect the people) is being overshadowed by a newer goal of extracting currency from their constituents? Is it really fair to give "student informants" a letter of recommendation to a law school of their choice for going undercover to parties? I think not.

I heard some police officers talking that they had nothing to do that night when they got through handing out tickets. Well, you can start with north of State Street, west of 27th Street and south of National Avenue. I know I do not feel comfortable walking around half of Milwaukee, even during the day. For example, one night last semester, a friend and I were on a quest for the Jewel on the east side. A couple of wrong turns later, we had no idea where we were. Before I knew it, my passenger window got shot out, and I was barreling down a residential street going 80 mph. My first reaction was to call the oh-so-helpful MPD, where I was told that they could not do anything for me, as it was too late at night for them to respond. I guess a couple of underage University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students were getting drunk, so the police were all tied up. As far as I know, no one died, but I think that the probability of death is higher in a situation in which people are shooting at passing cars than at a party with underage consumption. Why are the serious problems in this city being needlessly overlooked when we are sending convoys of police officers to assess outrageous fines for mundane things?

I wish I could do something about this, but I am only one man. I hope local residents and businesses speak out against this rash abuse of power and neglect of the public good that is happening right before our eyes.

John Daniels is a senior in the College of Engineering.

This viewpoint appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 17 2005.